A MERTHYR Tydfil taxi driver who dragged two men under his car for 36 feet has been banned from driving after being found guilty of careless driving.

Khaled Zaman, 42, denied the offence when he appeared at Merthyr Magistrates’ Court but was found guilty after trial.

Zaman told the court he had just dropped off a fare in his black VW Touran taxi and had turned left out of the junction opposite the Castle Hotel to go up towards the Brunswick, doing just 10mph.

He said the two men had jumped out in front of him - too quickly for him to do anything.

But despite his speed, he failed to initiate an emergency stop and continued up the road for 36 feet before coming to what he said was a gradual halt.

The two men were still pinned underneath the car as he rushed out to try and jack the car up.

The court heard that Callum James and Thomas Phillips had been for a night out on Saturday, November 13 when they were play fighting in Castle Street in the early hours of the following morning.

Witness Hayley Louise Passmore told the court she was walking on her way home from Koolers with a friend and had seen the lads monkeying about actually on the road and had been for a number of minutes.

She described how illness had meant she had not been drinking that night, save for a can of Carling, and was by the pedestrian crossing when she saw the accident.

“I was not paying much attention. I was just looking up and saw the taxi that just went straight over the boys,” she said.

Zaman, who drives the taxi for his brother and also works in his brother’s chip shop, said that he had been “very cautious” as he turned left onto Castle Street.

He claimed that the men were on the pavement when he slowly drove past when “all of a sudden” they fell into his path.

“I applied my brakes and put my handbrake on,” he said.

The collision report showed that Zaman had come to rest 12 metres away from the point of collision.

Firefighters had to use a hydraulic jack and wedges to free the pair from underneath the cab.

Stephen Head, prosecuting, said that the accident had happened because of a momentary lapse of attention.

The court heard the incident had a profound effect on the two men, each of whom spent weeks in Prince Charles Hospital being treated for extensive injuries.

Both suffered a broken pelvis with Mr James also suffering a broken leg and collapsed lungs.

Mr Phillips also suffered a dislocated jaw and spinal injuries and had to undergo skin grafts for burns.

District Judge Jill Watkins fined Zaman, of Albany Road, Cardiff, £300 and ordered him to pay £650 costs with a £15 victim surcharge.

Zaman, who was still working as a taxi driver, was also disqualified from driving for 12 months.

She told him: “The impact statements show that those boys’ lives have been ruined.